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Related video: JD Vance's three word response when asked if US forces will invade Mexico
Reuters
As US president Donald Trump’s administration continues to face an international backlash over its approach to ongoing attack by Russian forces on Ukraine, vice president JD Vance is facing online criticism over an encounter with pro-Ukraine demonstrators on Saturday.
Since his shocking rant at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House last week, Trump has suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine, halted military aid to the country, and is reportedly looking at stripping temporary legal status from Ukrainian refugees in America.
He also took a swipe at UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s summit with European leaders, held just days after the aforementioned spat in the Oval Office.
Now, Vance has found himself embroiled in controversy over his conversation with protesters in Cincinnati, Ohio, and an account which the demonstrators have since claimed is a “fabrication”.
In a post on Twitter/X, Vance wrote: “Today while walking my 3 year old daughter a group of ‘Slava Ukraini’ protesters followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared.
“I decided to speak with the protesters in the hopes that I could trade a few minutes of conversation for them leaving my daughter alone. (Nearly all of them agreed.)
“It was a mostly respectful conversation, but if you’re chasing a 3-year-old as part of a political protest, you’re a s*** person.”
Doge boss and close Trump ally Elon Musk expressed his support with a typically succinct response:
Others, meanwhile, questioned Vance’s phrasing:
They also pointed out children of the same age as his daughter are dying in Ukraine:
And that the Secret Service surely wouldn’t “allow people to ‘chase’ the vice president’s toddler’:
Given this protection also extends to his immediate family:
As well as this, social media users took aim at the Trump administration’s decision to suspend intelligence sharing with Ukraine:
What’s more, those who witnessed the conversation have shared footage with local outlet WCPO 9 News, and queried his description of the incident.
The almost three-minute-long video from the incident appears to show Vance surrounded by Secret Service agents as he’s questioned on the withdrawal of US support.
He is heard saying: “We think it’s in the best interest of our [own people] and frankly in the best interest of the Ukrainians for the war to stop … I think what we’re doing is we’re actually forcing a diplomatic settlement.”
Ann Henry, the person who supplied the video, said: “I just wish he wouldn’t have characterized it the way he did on Twitter.”
She added that “no one was chasing him” and that they “all wanted it to be respectful and calm”.
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